I'm sure most of us have seen the reports by now of movie distributors pulling both trailers (the Spiderman trailer showing him hanging a web between the WTC towers) and movies themselves (Collateral Damage, The Sidewalks of New York) in the wake of this week's events, but what caught me up short was a feature I saw yesterday--I'm sorry I've forgotten on which network) about MS Flight Simulator. One part of the story is that MS will be revising the latest release to remove the WTC from the scenery. The other much freakerier part was that they had a couple of licensed 757/767 pilots recreate the attacks using Flight Simulator 2000. It simply made by skin crawl, especially the outside view showing a 767 in American Airlines colors penetrating the tower. The one positive note, I guess you could call it, was that one of the pilots did say that, while Flight Simulator might be somewhat useful for learning the layout of the instrument panel, it could in no way be considered a training tool for flying an actual 757 or 767.

The MS Flight Sim thing wasn't so bad as real airline flight simulators, the ones on big hydraulic pumps so they bank and climb and stuff. Most commercial airline pilots have 6 month refersher courses in the simulators to practice for emergency maneuvers, like sudden wind shear or if an engine fails or something like that. However, one pilot told a newspaper that most of them usually have a few minutes leftover after the refersher training, and since the simulation is set around New York, a lot of them used to pretend to fly through the WTC for fun. He said he doubts anyone will do that anymore.

Still, I was in a Best Buy tonight and saw this guy buying a copy of MS Flight Sim. I was *this* close to asking him if he was out of his fucking mind. What ultimately stopped me was what's been stopping me all week when my temper has gotten going: We could all use a whole lot more "love thy neighbor" right now.

'I was *this* close to asking him if he was out of his fucking mind.'

What's the big deal? The average game purchaser isn't a hyper-obsessive who's going to think that the WTC is in the game, and refuse to play the game because of it. It's not like there's a "destroy the WTC" level; it's just a flight simulator, with a map of NYC in addition to other major cities.

I hear you Gordon.
Tuesday late at night, during a bout of insomnia, I did the questionable thing by buying the poster for the 1976 King Kong movie.

As an excuse let me say I meant to that for a while now, and I've got a poster sized space in my office. This poster shows the great ape standing on the twin towers holding Jessica Lange and a ruined train.

I bought it also because the first thing that leapt to my mind was that movie. I saw it when I was 5 in the theater and the memory is vivid (which is why I wanted it before this). But also because I wanted something WTC related after Tuesday.

The poster site sent it but sent me an email expressing concern that I was an opportunist seeking to resell it at a higher value now. I was shocked because, well, I see why they'd think that.

I might just put it in the basement, or maybe I'll put it up for the reasons I wanted it in the first place.

I dunno.
I'm questioning my motives even now.

My wife thinks I should put it up. As she puts it, in the movie Kong chooses the WTC because it reminds him of home. Maybe I'll put it up because it reminds me of home.

I dunno.
Just something I did. Maybe the guy at Best Buy is now just more curious about aircraft. If he bought it to slam it into the virtual WTC, well, that's his soul he's tainting.

-Andrew

You know, I must admit that I thought of trying to recreate the flight, both in New York as well as Washington, just to see how difficult or easy it would be. How well trained did these guys really have to be?

Maybe in a few weeks. I just wasn't able to be that dispassionate yet...

"What's the big deal?"

It wasn't a logical reaction, Jason. Just an emotional one. My heart told me at the time he was being insensitive, my head knew better.

Looks like there will be more changes to come in PC and video games. In addition to the changes in Flight Simulator and the suspension of Majestic, Westwood is offering retailers a re-packaging of Red Alert 2, due to the cover art depictions of American monuments under attack.

It will be interesting to see whether the publishers re-think altogether any games that they have under development. I can't thing of anything at the moment that might be give a publisher pause, but you never know.

Anyone making a fantasy game must be glad its fantasy. That's a safe genre.

Didn't Duke Nukem Forever at one point have some kind of anti-terrorist line? I remember seeing an old screenshot of a guy in a turban.

As it turns out Duke Nukem Forever (setting aside for the time being all other jokes about its release) and Metal Gear Solid for the X-Box are two games that are being re-evaluated in the light of this week's events: MSNBC Story

All possible entertainment except for Iron Chef and Freddie Prince, Jr. movies should now be banned. It's the only way to protect our fragile sensibilities.

-Amanpour

"...and Freddie Prince, Jr. movies..."

Aren't these already banned?

-Andrew

Shit, here's a BETTER one... Bob "kick me now" Arnot should have his pencil license revoked.

"Could flight simulator software have trained four pilots to kill?"

http://msnbc.com/news/628194.asp?0si&cp1=1

How could a terrorist learn to fly a sophisticated jetliner? There�s one surprising answer: by purchasing a computer program for $34.95.

How did American�s Flight 11 find the World Trade Center with such ease?
The most chilling answer may be this. One of the most popular flight simulators has a complete 3-D map of Manhattan on it, allowing a terrorist to practice approaching and hitting the World Trade Center again and again.
Curiously, this software package says it�s for sale only in the United States and Canada. I tried �flying� to the World Trade Center myself using a laptop computer. The view of Manhattan was amazingly accurate. I�ve flown my own plane down the Hudson River dozens of times right past the twin towers. The simulator view was pretty accurate � accurate enough for a pilot unfamiliar with the area to become familiar enough to find and target the towers.
At first, trying to target the towers is hard at first on the PC simulator, given the tremendous speed of the 767 at full throttle. But even after several passes, a relative novice can get good enough to fly directly into either tower.
How could terrorists get into the United States to take pilot training, especially terrorists with a past record of violence? Flight schools take care of getting visas for their foreign clients. It�s such a big part of their business so they have learned to do it often and easily. Curiously, they�re student visas, usually subject to little review.

FLYING A LAPTOP
One of the important questions investigators will be asking is whether these terrorists picked the World Trade Center because it was on a flight simulator.
If so, they could have honed their skills anywhere in the world, using only a laptop computer. Imagine training for dozens of hours on a laptop in a secure location. You�d get very good. No airline facility would ever let you use a multimillion-dollar simulator to practice hitting a building. Plus, the expensive simulators don�t have 3-D terrain models of New York City.

This kind of sensationalistic coverage annoys me. I really don't think that "...[o]ne of the important questions investigators will be asking is whether these terrorists picked the World Trade Center because it was on a flight simulator." It think there are hundreds of questions that are much more important.

I agree completely with Mark. As I noted in the initial post in this thread, the actual 757/767 pilots who tried out Flight Simulator 2000 after the attacks, said that in no way could it be considered a training tool that they could "hone their skills" with. One pilot said it might have some small use in learning the instrument panel layout, and that was it. This story is nothing but uninformed, tasteless sensationalism.

Moreover, we know that the highjackers didn't "hone their skills" with Flight Simulator, they took the same training courses that legitimate, commercial pilots take, and they trained on real commercial simulators.

1. They did not pick the World Trade Center as a target because it was in a flight sim. They chose it because it was the biggest symbol of American capatalism in the world, and they've been wanting to knock it down for years. Remember the 1993 bombing? Unfortunately, they learned lessons on how to attack the problem.

2. You really can't hone your flying skills with a flight simulator. You don't have a sense of motion, or realistic flight input. What you can do is familiarize yourself with cockpit layout. A 767 is loaded with dials and guages and buttons, and you need to know how to read them to fly a plane properly. Of course, don't forget they found a rental car parked at Boston Logan loaded with arabic flight manuals, so they could have used those too.

This just in: Microsoft has decided to postpone the release of FS2002, feeling it would be inappropriate at this time.

Well, nuts. I was sort of looking forward to this instalment. :-(